Colchicum scabromarginatum

Colchicum scabromarginatum, commonly known in Afrikaans as skuite (boats) and previously in botany as Androcymbium scabromarginatum, is a cormous, dwarf perennial reaching 5 cm in height.

It grows two leathery green leaves opposite each other, flat on the ground or nearly so. The leaves are ovate in shape and taper or attenuate to acutely pointed tips. In picture they curve up and undulate, though not as much as the smaller bracts of the inflorescence in the centre.

The species is endemic to the Northern Cape where the plants grow in sandy soil among the Namaqua klipkoppe and in the Richtersveld. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Le Roux, et al, 2005; iNaturalist; http://redlist.sanbi.org).